flour

1 of 2

noun

1
: a product consisting of finely milled wheat
also : a similar product made from another grain or food product (such as dried potatoes or fish)
2
: a fine soft powder
flourless adjective
floury adjective

flour

2 of 2

verb

floured; flouring; flours

transitive verb

: to coat with or as if with flour

intransitive verb

: to break up into particles

Examples of flour in a Sentence

Noun a five-pound bag of flour mix the two flours together Verb The fish should be lightly floured before it's fried.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The researchers want the study to spur a conversation about whether niacin should be eliminated from certain fortified foods, such as flour and cereal. Staff Author, Health, 14 Mar. 2024 Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 11 Mar. 2024 Add the flour to the batter and stir to blend well. Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024 Bezalel Smotrich holding up flour at the Port of Ashdod for at least five weeks, despite the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu promised President Biden that that flour would go to hungry, starving people. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2024 The flour had been mixed with water and left to ferment, Kavak said. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024 Windmills, used to produce flour, became a staple to medieval economies more than 800 years ago. Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024 Even small amounts of flour are often impossible to find, or too expensive to buy when available. NBC News, 28 Feb. 2024 They are simply made with flour, eggs, salt, milk, and served with poha berry jam (a type of orange gooseberry). Debbi Kickham, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
Verb
Pour batter into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 23 Feb. 2024 Before searing your steak in oil, season and flour the pieces. Robin Miller, The Arizona Republic, 31 Jan. 2024 After an hour, flour your work surface and pull the dough from the bowl. Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Oct. 2023 Add batter to pan: Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch circular pan. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 7 Feb. 2024 Lightly flour a rolling pin and a clean work surface. Kathy Gunst, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024 The pictures included shots of Ferguson and his toddler rolling out dough with pins while images shared to his Instagram Story featured the father-son duo pinching butter and flour together in a mixing bowl. Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 28 Dec. 2023 Repeat Steps 8, 9, and 10 for each dough ball, greasing and flouring skillet for each. Ronni Lundy, Southern Living, 25 Dec. 2023 But don’t neglect to flour them, which will help thicken the sauce. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 1 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flour.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English flour, flur "blossom of a plant, prime of life, best of a class, ground wheat free of bran," borrowed from Anglo-French flour, flur "blossom of a plant, paragon, best part, ground grain free of bran" — more at flower entry 1

Note: In the sense "ground grain free of bran and impurities," Anglo-French flour, flur was presumably originally short for flur de farine, "best part of the milled grain," which is reflected in contemporaneous Medieval Latin flos farinae. The Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch points out that flur became the ordinary word for "flour" not only in Anglo-French, but also in at least part of medieval Picardy and in isolated areas elsewhere (vol. 3, p. 632). See also W. Rothwell, "From Latin to Anglo-French and Middle English: The Role of the Multilingual Gloss," Modern Language Review, vol. 88, no. 3 (July, 1993), pp. 584-85. In English, consistent distinction in spelling of the two meanings "blossom of a plant" and "finely milled grain" was not made before the eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson's dictionary (1755) still enters both meanings under the single spellling flower.

Verb

derivative of flour entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1657, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of flour was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near flour

Cite this Entry

“Flour.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flour. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

flour

1 of 2 noun
1
: finely ground powdery meal of wheat or of any cereal grain or edible seed
2
: a fine soft powder

flour

2 of 2 verb
: to coat with flour
Etymology

Noun

Middle English flour "finely ground wheat meal," from earlier flour "best part, flower," from early French flor, flour "flower," from Latin flor-, flow "flower, blossom" — related to florid, flourish, flower

More from Merriam-Webster on flour

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